Democrat Rick Noriega is trying this year to become the first Hispanic U.S. senator from Texas, good news for some El Pasoans eager to see one of their own in the august chamber.

Over iced tea and finger snacks in a New York suburb, Carly Fiorina -- once the nation's most powerful female business leader -- launched into her latest gig, wooing Hillary Clinton supporters to vote for John McCain. Just as she crossed the country six years ago as Hewlett-Packard CEO, doggedly soliciting support from skeptical investors to seal her signature deal, the $19 billion purchase of Compaq Computer, she now stumps from town-to-city, Michigan-to-Tennessee, selling John McCain. And, along with him, a big dose of herself.

Presidential challengers John McCain and Barack Obama sparred over affirmative action Sunday, with McCain backing an effort to end state and locally run minority preferences and Obama saying policies that consider race need to continue.

How many students know that a 1946 California court case on segregation actually set a precedent for the widely heralded Brown v. Board of Education? The case of Mendez v. Westminster is one of the great triumphs in California legal history -- five Latino parents challenged a white private school in court for admission and won, leading to desegregation of all schools in the state. Some California lawmakers are pushing for the story to be told in history classes across the state.

The number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States is expected to grow 41.8 percent in the next six years to 4.3 million, with total revenues surging 39 percent to more than $539 billion, according to new estimates by HispanTelligence. Spurred by growing entrepreneurial trends and affluence among the nation's largest minority population, the increase is expected to come at a robust rate of 8.5 and 8.7 percent, respectfully, over the next couple years.

For more than two decades, the annual Hispanic Business 500 directory has served as a barometer of the U.S. Hispanic economy. A purchase of the 2007 directory provides the top 500 Hispanic-owned companies list in Excel format including: CEO names; company addresses and telephone numbers; e-mail addresses for 375 companies and Web addresses for 430 companies; and company revenue and employees numbers for 2005 and 2006.

The Hispanic Businesses 500, which contains some of the nation's most dynamic and well-established firms, saw a worrisome 0.6 percent decline in total revenues in 2007. A review of the 2007 economic accomplishments of the 500 largest Hispanic companies suggests that Wall Street's failings were significantly impacting Main Street in 2007.

The Hispanic Business 500 have endured turbulent economic times before, but market conditions proved especially bearish for U.S. Hispanic companies in 2007. Revenues for this year's HB 500 slid backwards 0.6 percent to $36.1 billion. It is the first such dip since 2002, and only the third in the directory's 26-year history. It should come as no surprise that more than 41 percent of CEOs cited market conditions as the top barriers to growth in 2007.